Burmese president meets France’s Hollande

Burma's President Thein Sein met French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Wednesday for talks on economic and diplomatic ties, in the second leg of his European tour.

France’s leaders are set to meet Myanmar President Thein Sein to discuss widening economic and diplomatic ties.

The talks Wednesday between Thein Sein and President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault are the second leg in a European tour for the Myanmar president. He met British Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this week.

France and other Western nations imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s previous military junta and avoided military-to-military contacts. Most sanctions were dropped after Thein Sein took office in 2011 and instituted economic and political reforms.

However, just last week U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned Myanmar that it must end Buddhist attacks on minority Muslims in the Southeast Asian country if it wants to be seen as a credible nation.

Myanmar for decades has faced rebellions from several ethnic groups seeking autonomy. The Kachin Independence Army is the only major rebel group that has not reached a cease-fire agreement with the government.

Nearly 250 people have died and tens of thousands, mostly Muslims, have fled their homes in religious violence in the past year. Buddhist mobs have marched through villages burning houses and mosques and brandishing machetes and clubs.

New freedoms of speech under Thein Sein have made it easier to disseminate radical views, while exposing deep-seeded racism felt by much of the population toward Muslims and other minorities.

Sectarian violence began in western Rakhine state last year, when hundreds died in clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that drove about 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, from their homes. The violence had seemed confined to that region, but in late March, Buddhist-led violence - fueled by the killing of a monk after a Buddhist mob burned down several Muslim-owned shops - swept the town of Meikthila in central Myanmar, killing at least 43 people.

Celestine Foucher of Info Birmanie, a French human rights organization, said Thein Sein election triggered “misplaced and exaggerated euphoria” in the West.

“By inviting the new president, it looks like we’re giving 100 percent backing to someone who is only making a 10 percent effort” to improve human rights in Myanmar, Foucher said. The Myanmar leader’s “first meeting Wednesday is with (business lobby) MEDEF, that shows you were the priorities lie, " she added.